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Pentagon to pull out of RAF Mildenhall and 14 other European bases
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Facing tight budgets and a shrinking military, the Pentagon said on Thursday it was ending operations at an airbase in Britain and handing it and 14 other sites in Europe back to their home governments in a move projected to save $500m annually.
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The Pentagon said it would divest RAF Mildenhall north-east of London, home to tanker, reconnaissance and special operations aircraft, and withdraw 3,200 military personnel and their families over the next several years.
The reductions at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk would be partially offset later in the decade when the Pentagon adds 1,200 personnel and two squadrons of F-35 joint strike fighters at nearby RAF Lakenheath, home to the US 48th Fighter Wing.
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The net loss of US troops in Britain would be about 2,000, the Pentagon said, the biggest of the consolidation moves in Europe in terms of personnel. Several facilities in Germany would be closed, but overall US troop numbers were expected to rise by a few hundred.
The defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, acknowledged the moves would result in job losses in the countries affected but said the changes were necessary to “help maximise our military capabilities in Europe so that we can best support our Nato allies and partners”.
About 500 US military and civilian personnel would be withdrawn from Lajes Field in the Azores, reducing US troop numbers in Portugal. An air control squadron from Germany would be relocated to Italy, increasing US forces there by some 300.
The Europe base moves come as the Pentagon is under orders to reduce projected spending by nearly $1tn over a decade. In an effort to curb costs, the department has repeatedly asked Congress to close some facilities in the United States, where excess capacity is thought to be around 20%.
But Congress has resisted any closures, with some lawmakers telling defense officials to cut excess facilities in Europe first. The United States has more than 64,000 troops stationed in Europe, most in Germany, Italy and Britain.
The moves come amid heightened tensions between Russia and Nato after Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean region and its support for pro-Russian militants opposed to the Kiev government.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the commander of US army troops in Europe, told Reuters last week that budget pressures made cuts in US forces inevitable, but it would be good to maintain current levels in Europe until the security picture clarifies.
“We can carry out the tasks that we have now, that are assigned now, with the currently assigned forces and infrastructure and with the rotational forces that the army has committed to provide,” he said. “It would certainly be a challenge if they got any less.”
